"Given this wicket at the moment, there definitely will be 10 wickets tomorrow," David Warner said.

The fire is well and truly out of the Adelaide pitch, replaced by variable bounce and deepening foot marks, which will alarm India's batsmen.

"It's hard to score when the ball gets older. There's a nice rough area for Nathan Lyon to bowl at," Warner said. "We saw that in the first innings, he was hitting it pretty much every delivery. That's going to be a key for us tomorrow.

"We'll try and take early wickets with the new ball tomorrow and once it gets older we'll try and use the conditions to get the ball to go reverse."

The significance of Lyon's effort should not be downplayed as Warne and MacGill, two of Australia's best spinners in the modern era, failed to take five wickets in an innings against India at home.

In fact, Lyon became only the second Australian bowler to do so, 46 years after Bob Simpson.

Despite ordinary form in the UAE and in the Shield, Lyon's deeds in the first innings should give him confidence to believe he can be the ace in the pack for Michael Clarke.

But the planets have aligned previously for Lyon and the off-spinner has not been able to take the next step.

He was widely criticised two summers ago after failing to breach the defences of Faf du Plessis or A.B. de Villiers as South Africa stonewalled for a draw.

Against the West Indies in Dominica in 2012, he was overshadowed on the final day by the part-time spin of Clarke, who claimed a match-winning five wickets.

Lyon's record in the fourth innings is only moderate with 24 wickets at 36, while his strike rate of a wicket every 78 balls is inferior to his career mark of 70.

After making two key breakthroughs on the third day to halt India's charge, Lyon tilted the match firmly in Australia's favour by claiming another three wickets before lunch on Friday.

His interventions were pivotal in handing Australia a precious 73-run first-innings advantage in a match where time is now of the essence.

Rohit Sharma was the key wicket, exposing what proved to be a long Indian tail.

The No.6 would have been embarrassed at the soft nature of his dismissal, bunting a low return chance which Lyon held diving to his right.

He was unlucky not to remove Karn Sharma, who had no idea against his off-breaks, but fortunate to dismiss Wriddhiman Saha, who did not appear to make any contact with his bat to a ball which deflected to first slip.

Poll

Who should be Australia's next Test captain if Michael Clarke is out injured?

Brad Haddin29%

Steve Smith46%

Shane Watson6%

David Warner9%

George Bailey7%

Chris Rogers2%

Total votes: 16634

Poll closed 16 Dec, 2014

Disclaimer: These polls are not scientific and reflect the opinion only of visitors who have chosen to participate.